I normally despise musicals, but knowing the people involved with this one, and the source material, I'm going to give it a shot. Also it won a lot of awards in the LA production, so I am pretty sure it will be worth the trip, so to speak.

A few of the busy people stop and look at the nut-job prepared to give a speech. "Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind. You smoke a joint and you're likely to kill your brother." He continues his voice still cold and lacking emphasis. "Marijuana is an addictive drug which produces in its user’s insanity, criminality, and death." Still nowhere near the passion he can deliver, he knows he must try harder. Play with their fears. Get creative. Then he's reminded to stay focused. He thinks to himself, "Okay, hook, line, and now for the sinker." "There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others. Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men." Delivered perfectly he thought. A tiny crowd had finally gathered. "Marijuana leads to pacifism and communist brainwashing....the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races."

The people stood there shocked by the open disrespect and prejudice. More people had gathered but all of them too stunned to say some thing or do anything to stop him. It seemed this crazy, deranged lunatic could go on for weeks on end, just then the cops stepped up and forcibly removed Mr. TooFaR from his podium, dragging him away screaming incomprehensibly about the American government being Communist.

What you might not know is, and the saddest part of this, those derogatory comments from above are actually the work of the leading producer of anti-marijuana sentiment, Harry J. Anslinger better known for being the very first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. Through men like Anslinger, Reefer Madness was born, a stigma was introduced to society, and in a historical 'blink of an eye' consuming pot was demonized. Concern soon spread to every state and new laws against marijuana came with it, and the federal government wasn't far behind with their own devices. It wasn't long before farmers growing hemp would become criminals, along with anybody that used pot for fun because stoners had been profiled to be psychotic, overly aggressive, and unintelligent. Campaigns demonizing weed became common ground from the initial steps of pot prohibition, and they proved to be effective as they scared the public into believing that cannabis was harmful and did not have a single purpose in our lives. Even the well-known William Randolf Hearst is implicated as being financially motivated by his special interest with the lumber and paper companies to write in a widely distributed newspaper denouncing the possibilities of cannabis. Although, these are only a couple of the bigger players in the game their attacks on the Cannabis industry, the lies created on behalf of the war on drugs have taken hold in our society and have continued to thrive everywhere. It is now known this information couldn't be further from the truth.

The truth, many brilliant, well-respected, peace-makers throughout history have, in one way or another, consumed and have gotten high off the Cannabis plant. Cannabis can also be used for a variety of different consumer products, and because of this, cannabis is considered one of the most useful plants in human history. Mr. Anslinger knew this, same with the good people at DuPont for whom he was spreading his deceitful propaganda. They did not want you, the potential consumer of the up and coming plastic industry, to be properly informed because the technology needed wouldn't be developed. The price of plastic and other goods coming from the by-products of fossil fuel production wouldn't become dirt cheap, and hemp would inhibit the select few from becoming filthy fucking rich. Congratulations Mr. Anslinger, you personally with the honest tax-paying citizen's money, created an organization accredited to destroying an entire industry, and forming laws so twisted and tricky we still have not been able to give the people their rights back. This is not to mention, the whole situation could be considered evidence of a direct government sponsorship in the private sector of the industrial complex. When this happens it is a slippery slope straight towards Communism, but that's another problem we are dealing with altogether now, isn't it?

Let us get down to brass tacks here, pot is a safer alternative substance for recreational use than alcohol, and it should be legalized, regulated and taxed like alcohol; but for some, weed is still deemed as an evil menace, consumed by only the scourge of our society. Although alcohol kills thousands people a year due to over dose, endangers innocent lives due to driving while impaired, and someone under the influence is more likely to assault another person both physical and sexual, alcohol is legal to consume because prohibition does not work. It is even speculated that legalizing pot would allow the people interested in a safer alternative but afraid of legal repercussion to switch from one relaxing enhancement drug of choice, alcohol, to a substance that does not have a single recorded instance in human history of death due to overdose. This then could reduce the imperative cost that alcohol imparts onto our society, because marijuana does not affect people's mood in the same manner. It's also assumed if marijuana was legalized, it wouldn't cause any additional problems for society due to its current high rate of use any problems it might cause would already be present.

The effects of THC are...The T-H-C's are skeleton keys to locked doors in your psyche that can barely contain the lucid dreams trapped within. The things discovered upon the deep refection during the subtle trip are sometimes beautiful, scary, amazing and shocking, and that's about all I can say. It is like walking in another man's shoes. Actually, it's extremely hard to explain what it feels like though, can you explain how it feels to be drunk? If you're like me, I can only explain how I might act, but it's even hard to do that. It's all situational. What I feel is going to be different every time, not majorly but slightly, and it is going to be slightly different from what you may feel. It is all about the reaction with our personal chemistry; one strain might give me mad munchies but make another person really tired. Universally, people find pot makes everything more amusing, and pot-heads claim a strange attraction to marijuana insignia. Seriously though, THC is a calming depressant that does not cause violence.

Marijuana --the gateway drug, your future addiction, carcinogen, cause of brain damage and violent behavior-- are all relatively easy myths to crush when they're compared to the criminal statistics contributed to legal use of alcohol. First off, let's take the fact more people try cigarettes and alcohol first before using weed, so the gateway drug is actually one of those two. Also, because weed is sold on the black market its users are more likely to be offered harder drugs by their drug dealing friends because those are the real money makers. Legalizing weed will actually reduce the amount of weed smokers being introduced to harder drugs. Okay next, studies have proven that weed does not cause physical dependency, and the high numbers of marijuana users in a rehabilitation program is because those people had been ordered by the court to attend. Are you starting to see a pattern, these lies are a concoction to scare the people, because of this the government strictly limits the testing of marijuana compounds in the United States. If they did it wouldn't take long to smash every lie ever told. It has been proven THC and other cannabinoids actually prevent certain types of cancer from developing. So, if all the others allegations have been dismissed, why wouldn't the rest be --yep it is true, they have been dismissed too. There is no proof that weed causes brain damage or violent behavior, but I am not saying weed is absolutely harmless. Weed does interfere with the development of short term memory, and the dry mouth called cottonmouth encourages gum diseases such as gingivitis.

The times are changing though, honest and caring people have decided to take a stand for what is right, and fight back. This is the true reefer madness, and not the Hollywood tale of debauchery from a bygone era. The people have realized the injustice in the system, and are fed up with the bullshit. After years of pushing for what's right with great veracity this redeveloping sector is starting to thrive again, and every user from recreational to medicinal is carried away by enthusiasm. Just wait until the laws have been repealed because then the true reefer madness will set in; and the legalization of pot will bring in needed revenue, regulate the substance to protect children, and if I may quote current vice president Joe Bidden, "This is a big fucking deal." Not only that, it's our body, and our choice.

Micheal Phelps and every single person incriminated or arrested for the non-victim crime of consuming pot have one thing in common, we all have had our civil liberties trounced for getting caught up in the new and improved reefer madness. There is no denying the craze caused by reefer, and it isn't a fad that is going to go away. Can you blame us though; it is safer than alcohol for crying out loud. People are dying to get their hands on some weed, literally, people inflicted with some serious shit from AIDS, MS, and arthritis to those in chemotherapy find weed to be a blessing.

And a few final words for the wise, legalize not legal lies. Prove there still is justice in the system, and not just us in the system.